UNIT VI: Optical Detectors

Optical D
Detection Principle

The conversion of an optical into an electrical signal requires the absorption of the
incident light. The absorption leads to an excitation of an electron from the valence to the
conduction band. What is left in the valence band is a vacancy, which we call a “hole”.
Therefore, we speak about the photo
photo-generation of electron-hole
hole pairs, because the absorption
always leads to the generation of a hole and an electron. (That does not necessary mean that
both carriers contribute to
o the electronic transport, but the generation creates both species.)

If now a photon gets absorbed in the material the electron

electron-hole
hole pairs have to be
separated by an electric field. The energy of the photon has to be sufficiently high to excite an
electronn from the valence to the conduction band.

Fig. 1Photo generation of an electron hole pair.

Absorption coefficient
1. The absorption of photons in a photodiode to produce carrier pairs and thus a
photocurrent is dependent on the absorption coefficient α0 of the light in the
semiconductor used to fabricate the device.
2. At a specific wavelength and assuming only bandgap transitions (i.e. Intrinsic absorber)
the photocurrent Ipp produced by incident light of optical power Poo is given by
o 1
p 1 exp α0

Wheree is the charge on an electron, r is the Fresnel reflection coefficient at the

semiconductor–air
air interface and d is the width of the absorption region.

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3. The absorption coefficients of semiconductor materials are strongly dependent on

wavelength. This is illustrated for some common semiconductors in Figure 1. It may be
observed that there is a variation between the absorption curves for the materials shown
and that they are each suitable for different wavelength applications. However, iit must be
noted that the curves depicted in Figure 1 also vary with temperature.

Figure 2Optical absorption curves for some common semiconductor photodiode materials (silicon,
germanium, gallium arsenide, indium gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide phosphide)

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Direct and Indirect Absorption: silicon and germanium

Table 1 indicates that silicon and germanium absorb light by both direct and indirect optical
transitions.
1. Indirect absorption requires the assistance of a photon so that momentum indirect
absorption than for direct absorption where no photon is involved. In this context
direct and indirect absorption may be contrasted with direct and indirect emission
discussed.

Bandgap (eV) at 300 K

Indirect Direct

Si
1.14 4.10
Ge
0.67 0.81
GaAs
– 1.43
InAs
– 0.35
InP
– 0.35
InP
– 0.73
GaSb – 0.75

In0.53Ga0.47As 1.15

Table 1 Band gaps for some semiconductor photodiode materials at 300 K

2 Therefore, as may be seen from Figure 2, silicon is only weakly absorbing over the
wavelength band of interest in optical fiber communications (i.e. first-generation 0.8
to 0.9 µm). This is because transitions over this wavelength band in silicon are due
only to the indirect absorption mechanism. As mentioned previously the threshold for
indirect absorption occurs at 1.09 µm. The bandgap for direct absorption in silicon is
4.10 eV, corresponding to a threshold of 0.30 µm in the ultraviolet, and thus is well
outside the wavelength range of interest.
3 Germanium is another semiconductor material for which the lowest energy absorption
takes place by indirect optical transitions. However, the threshold for direct
absorption occurs at 1.53 µm, below which germanium becomes strongly absorbing,
corresponding to the kink in the characteristic shown in Figure 2. Thus germanium

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may be used in the fabrication of detectors over the whole of the wavelength range of
interest (i.e. first- and second-generation 0.8 to 1.6 µm), especially considering that
indirect absorption will occur up to a threshold of 1.85 µm.
4 Ideally, a photodiode material should be chosen with a bandgap energy slightly less
than the photon energy corresponding to the longest operating wavelength of the
system. This gives a sufficiently high absorption coefficient to ensure a good
response, and yet limits the number of thermally generated carriers in order to achieve
a low dark current. Germanium photodiodes have relatively large dark currents due to
their narrow bandgaps in comparison with other semiconductor materials. This is a
major disadvantage with the use of germanium photodiodes, especially at shorter
wavelengths (below 1.1 µm).

QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
A detector is not capable of collecting all the photons and convert them to electron-
hole pairs. The number of electrons produced per incident photon is defined as the quantum
efficiency, which is usually expressed as a percentage

.
η
. ! "
If I=photocurrent in the external circuit and P0 = incident optical power (dropping the
percentage in the definition)
$#
η
P0$
ℎ &

(
'=
)

Whererp is the incident photon rate (photons per second) and re is the corresponding electron
Rate (electrons per second).

Using this in the expression for the responsivity,

We get the responsivity, therefore depends on the wavelength*. For an ideal photo detector,
η=1 and R is linear with *.

1. Quantum efficiency η< 1 as the entire photons incident will not generate e-h pairs.
2. Absorption coefficient of material determines the quantum efficiency.

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3. It is normally expressed in percentage (e.g. a quantum efficiency is 65% is equivalent to

65 electrons collected per 100 incident photons).
4. The quantum is a function of the photons wavelength and must therefore only be quoted
for a specific wavelength.

RESPONSIVITY
Energy of photon is not considered in the definition of quantum efficiency. Hence it is
appropriate to define responsivity which consider energy of photon.
Responsivity of a detector is given as the ratio of the generated photocurrent (Ip) to the
amount of optical power (P0) incident on the detector.
,
=
0

The unit of responsivity is amperes/watt.

1. Responsivity gives transfer characteristics of the detector (i.e. photocurrent per unit
incident optical power).
2. The relationship for responsivity may be developed to include quantum efficiency as
follows:
Considering the energy of a photon E= hv, thus the incident photon rate rp maybe written as,
-.
rp =/0

Considering from quantum efficiency equations,

= η rp
η P0
=
ℎ&
Thus, the output photocurrent is,

η P0
,=
ℎ&
where e is the charge on an electron. Thus from the responsivity may be written as:
n3
R=
hf
As we know c= *&,

Replacing the above equation, we get

6 3 7
R=
/8

It may be noted that the responsivity is directly proportional to the quantum efficiency at a

particular wavelength.

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The p–n photodiode

Figure shows a reverse-biased p–n photodiode with both the depletion and diffusionregions.
The depletion region is formed by immobile positively charged donor atoms in the n-type
semiconductor material and immobile negatively charged acceptor atoms in the p-type
material, when the mobile carriers are swept to their majority sides under the influence of the
electric field. The width of the depletion region is therefore dependent upon the doping
concentrations for a given applied reverse bias (i.e. the lower the doping, the wider the
depletion region).
Photons may be absorbed in both the depletion and diffusion regions, as indicated
bythe absorption region in Figure 3.The absorption region’s position and width dependupon
the energy of the incident photons and on the material from which the photodiode is
fabricated. Thus in the case of the weak absorption of photons, the absorption region may
extend completely throughout the device. Electron–hole pairs are therefore generated in both
the depletion and diffusion regions. In the depletion region the carrier pairs separate and drift
under the influence of the electric field, whereas outside this region the hole diffuses towards
the depletion region in order to be collected. The diffusion process is very slow compared
with drift and thus limits the response of the photodiode

. Figure 3The p–n photodiode showing depletion and diffusion regions

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Figure 4 Typical p–n photodiode output characteristics

It is therefore important that the photons are absorbed in the depletion region. Thus it
ismade as long as possible by decreasing the doping in the n-type material. The depletion
region width in a p–n photodiode is normally 1 to 3 µm and is optimized for the efficient
detection of light at a given wavelength. For silicon devices this is in the visible spectrum
(0.4 to 0.7 µm) and for germanium in the near infrared (0.7 to 0.9 µm).
Typical output characteristics for the reverse-biased p–n photodiode are illustrated in
Figure 4. The different operating conditions may be noted moving from no light input to a
high light level.

PIN PHOTODIODE
PIN photodiode is a kind of photo detector; it can convert optical signals into
electrical signals. This technology was invented in the latest of 1950’s.The width of the
intrinsic region should be larger than the space charge width of a normal p-n junction. The
PIN photo diode operates with an applied reverse bias voltage and when the reverse bias is
applied, the space charge region must cover the intrinsic region completely.

Electron hole pairs are generated in the space charge region by the photon
absorption.The intrinsic region somewhat improves the sensitivity of the device. It does not
provide internal gain.The switching speed of frequency response of photodiode is inversely
proportional to the life time. The switching speed can be enhanced by a small minority carrier
lifetime. For the photo detector applications where the speed of response is important, the
depletion region width should be made as large as possible for small minority carrier lifetime
as a result the switch speed also increases.

This can be achieved PIN photodiode as the insertion of intrinsic region the space
charge width larger. The diagram of a normal PIN photodiode is given belowPIN detectors

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can be operated in two modes, photovoltaic and photoconductive.In photovoltaic mode, no

bias is applied to the detector. In this case the detector works very slow, and output is
approximately logarithmic to the input light level. In photoconductive mode, the detector is
reversed biased. The output in this case is a current that is very linear with the input light
power. The diagram of normal PIN PHOTODIODE is given below

.
Figure 5 The p–i–n photodiode showing the combined absorption and depletionregion

Figure 6(a) Structure of a front-illuminated silicon p–i–n photodiode. (b) Structure of a side-illuminated
(parallel to junction) p–i–n photodiode

In order to allow operation at longer wavelengths where the light penetrates more
deeplyinto the semiconductor material, a wider depletion region is necessary. To achieve this
then-type material is doped so lightly that it can be considered intrinsic, and to make a low

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resistance contact a highly doped n-type (n+) layer is added. This creates a p–i–n (or PIN)
structure, as may be seen in Figure 5 where all the absorption takes place in the depletion
region.
Figure 6shows the structures of two types of silicon p–i–n photodiode for operation
in the shorter wavelength band below 1.09 µm. The front-illuminated photodiode,
whenoperating in the 0.8 to 0.9 µm band (Figure 6(a)), requires a depletion region of between
20 and 50 µm in order to attain high quantum efficiency (typically 85%) together with fast
response (less than 1 ns) and low dark current (1 nA). Dark current arises from
surfaceleakage currents as well as generation–recombination currents in the depletion region
inthe absence of illumination. The side-illuminated structure (Figure 6(b)), where light
isinjected parallel to the junction plane, exhibits a large absorption width (500 µm) and hence
is particularly sensitive at wavelengths close to the bandgap limit (1.09 µm) where the
absorption coefficient is relatively small.
Germanium p–i–n photodiodes which span the entire wavelength range of interest
arealso commercially available, but as mentioned previously the relatively high dark currents
are a problem (typically 100 nA at 20 °C increasing to 1 µA at 40 °C).III–V semiconductor
alloys have been employed in the fabrication of longer wavelength region detectors. The
favoured material is the lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As/InP system which can detect at
wavelengths up to 1.67 µm. A typical planar device structure is which requires epitaxial
growth of several layers on an n-type InP substrate. The incident light is absorbed in the low-
doped n-type InGaAs layer generating carriers, as illustrated in the energy band. The
discontinuity due to the homo-junction between the n+-InP substrate and the n-InGaAs
absorption region may be noted. This canbe reduced by the incorporation of an n-type InP
buffer layer.

Avalanche photodiode
The second major type of optical communications detector is the
avalanchephotodiode(APD). This has a more sophisticated structure than the p–i–n
photodiode in order to createan extremely high electric field region (approximately 3 × 105 V
cm−1), as may be seen in Figure 7(a). Therefore, as well as the depletion region where most
of the photons area absorbed and the primary carrier pairs generated, there is a high-field
region in whichholes and electrons can acquire sufficient energy to excite new electron–hole
pairs. Thisprocess is known as impact ionization and is the phenomenon that leads to

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avalanchebreakdown in ordinary reverse-biased diodes. It often requires high reverse bias

voltages(50 to 400 V) in order that the new carriers created by impact ionization can
themselvesproduce additional carriers by the same mechanism as shown in Figure 7(b). More
recently, however, it should be noted that devices which will operate at much lower bias
voltages (15 to 25 V) have become available.

Figure 7(a) Avalanche photodiode showing high electric field (gain) region.
(b) Carrier pair multiplication in the gain region of an avalanche photodiode

Operation of these devices at high speed requires full depletion in the

absorptionregion. when carriers are generated in un depleted material, they are collected
somewhat slowly by the diffusion process. This has the effect of producing a long ‘diffusion
tail’ on a short optical pulse. When the APD is fully depleted by employing electric fields in
excess of 104 Vm−1, all the carriers drift at saturation-limited velocities. In this case the
response time for the device is limited by three factors. These are:

(a) the transit time of the carriers across the absorption region (i.e. the depletion width);
(b) the time taken by the carriers to perform the avalanche multiplication process; and
(c) the RC time constant incurred by the junction capacitance of the diode and its load.
At low gain the transit time and RC effects dominate giving a definitive response
timeand hence constant bandwidth for the device. However, at high gain the avalanche build
up time dominates and therefore the device bandwidth decreases proportionately with
increasing gain. Such APD operation is distinguished by a constant gain–bandwidth product.

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Characteristics: -

1. APDs have a distinct advantage over photodiodes without internal gain for the
detection of the very low light levels often encountered in optical fiber
communications. They generally provide an increase in sensitivity of between 5 and
15 dB over p–i–n photodiodes
odiodes while often giving a wider dynamic range as a result of
their gain variation with response time and reverse bias.

Minimum optical detector

power (dBm) on y-axis

Figure 8Receiver sensitivity comparison of p–i–n photodiode and APD devices at a bit-error--rate of 109: (a)
using silicon detectors operating at a wavelength of
0.82 m; (b) using In GaAs detectors operating at a wavelength of 1.55 m
The optimum sensitivity improvement of APD receivers over p–i–n
n photodiode
devicesis illustrated in the char
characteristics shown in Figure 7.. The characteristics display
theminimum detectable optical power for dir
direct detection against the transmitted bit rate in
rate (BER) of 10−9in the shorter and longer wavelength regions.
order to maintain a bit-error-rate
Figure 7(a)
a) compares silicon photodiodes operating at a wavelength of 0.82 µ
µm where the
APD is ablee to approach within 10 to 13 dB of the quantum limit. In addition, it may be
observed that the p–i–n photodiode receiver has a sensitivity around 15 dB below this level.
InGaAs photodiodes operating at a wavelength of 1.55 µm
m are compared in Figure 7(b).
7 In
this case the APD requires around 20 dB more power than the quantum limit, whereas the p–
i–n photodiode receiver is some 10 to 12 dB less sensitive than the APD. Finally, it should be
noted that as a consequence of the rapid emergence of quantum cryptography as a field
within optical fiber communications, APDs for operation as single
single-photon
photon-counting
avalanche detectors (SPADs) have been receiving significa
significant
nt attention worldwide.
worldwide

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Benefits and drawbacks with the av

avalanche photodiode: -
A. Fabrication difficulties due to their more complex structure and hence increase cost.
B. The random nature of the gain mechanism which gives an additional noise
contribution.
C. The high bias voltages required particularly for silicon devices
devices (150 to 400 V) which
although lower for germanium and In GaAs APDs (20 to 40 V) are similarly
wavelength dependent.
D. The variation of the gain (multiplication factor) with temperature for a silicon RAPD
thus temperature compensation is necessary to stabilize the operation of the device.

Figure 9Current
Current gain against reverse bias for a silicon RAPD operating at a
wavelength of 0.825 µm

Phototransistors
A symbolic representation of the n–p–n bipolar phototransistor
transistor is shown in Figure 10.
10

Fig 10

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1. It differs from the conventional bipolar transistor in that the base is unconnected, the
base–collector
collector junction being photosensitive to act as a light gathering element. Thus
absorbed light affects the base current giving multiplication of primary photocurrent
photoc
through the device.
2. The structure of an n–pp–n InGaAsP/InPheterojunction phototransistor is shown in
Figure 11

Fig 11
3. The three-layer hetero-structure
structure is grown on an InP substrate using liquid-phase
liquid
epitaxy (LPE). It consists of an n-type InP collector
ctor layer followed by a thin (0.1 µm)
type InGaAsP base layer. The third layer is a wide bandgapn-type
p-type bandgap type InP emitter layer.
4. Radiation incident on the device passes attenuated through the wide-bandgap
wide bandgap emitter
and is absorbed in the base, base
base–collector depletion
letion region and the collector.The use
of the hetero-structure
structure permits low emitter
emitter–base and collector–base
base junction
capacitances together with low base resistance. This is achieved through low emitter
and collector doping levels coupled with heavy doping of the base, and allows large
current gain.
5. In addition, the potential barrier created by the heterojunction at the emitter
emitter–base
junction effectively eliminates hole injection from the base when the junction is
forward biased.
6. The optical gain Goo of the device
de is given approximately by
/9 :8
Go ≈ ηhFE = ( ).
Whereis the quantum efficiency of the base
base–collector photodiode, hFE is the common
emitter current gain, Isis the collector current, Po
o is the incident optical power, e is
theelectronic charge and hf
hfis the photon energy.
7. Applications of phototransistors are alarm system (light beam detection) and remote
controls for TV sets and automobiles.
Types of Optical Detectors:

a) Photoconductive detector.

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b) Photovoltaic detector.
c) Photo emissive detector.

Photoconductive detector
The incoming light produces free electrons which can carry electrical so that the
electrical conductivity of detector changes as a function of a intensity of the incident
light.
The photoconductive detector is formed by two adjacent finger contact which are
placed on a semiconducting material.
Photoconductive detectors are fabricated from semiconductor material such as silicon.
Photodiodes can be operated under short circuit conditions.
In a photoconductive detector,when an electric potential is applied across Absorbing
region,it causes a current to flow in preportion to the irradance.
Due to the fact that the capacitance of the device is extremely low it should be
possible to build very fast optical detectors. The transient time of detectors is limited
by the drift velocity (velocity of the carriers caused by the applied electric field) of the
carriers.
The photoconductive detector is a unipolar device, which means that the current flow
is either completely dominated by electrons or by holes. Diodes are bipolar devices,
because electrons and hole contribute to the current transport.
For the manufacturing it is important to form good ohmic contacts with the
semiconductor. Otherwise Schottky barriers are formed which will limit the current
flow
On the basis of spectral responsivity function,photoconductive detectors are divided
into:
Photoconductive detectors for
a) Visible wavelength range
b) Near infrared wavelength range
c) Infrared wavelength range

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Fig 12. shows Photoconductive

toconductive detector structure which operates in the medium and the long wave band.

Problems

Example 1

When 3× 1011 photons each with a wavelength of 0.85 µm m are incident on a photodiode, on average
1.2 ⋅ 1011 electrons are collected at the terminals of the device. Determine the quantum efficiency and
the responsivity of the photodiode at 0.85 µm.
Solution:
ABCD3E FG 3H3IJEFAK IFHH3IJ3L
Quantum efficiency =
ABCD3E FG MAIML3AJ NOFJFAK

>.@=>.PP
= Q=>.PP

= 0.4

The quantum efficiency of the photodiode at 0.85 µm is 40%.

ɳ(7
Responsivity R =
/8

..< = >.?.@
?.@ = >.R>S = ..TU = >.R?
=
= >.RQ< = @.SST = >.V
?.?@? =

= 0.274 A W −1

The responsivity of the photodiode at 0.85 µm is 0.27 A W −1.

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Example 2

A photodiode has a quantum efficiency of 65% when photons of energy 1.5 × 10-19 J
are incident upon it.
(a) At what wavelength is the photodiode operating?
(b) Calculate the incident optical power required to obtain a photocurrent of
2.5 µA when the photodiode is operating as described above.

Solution:(a) the photon energy E = hf= hc/λ. Therefore:

/8 ?.?@? × >.XYZ × @.SST × >.V
λ= W = >.U ×>.XP[

= 1.32 µm.

The photodiode is operating at a wavelength of 1.32 µm.

(b) :
\(
Responsivity R =/9

..?U × >.?.@ × >.R>S

= >.U × >.R>S

= 0.694 A W −1
]
Also, R =)^
_

Therefore:
@U × >.R?
Po= ..?S<

= 3.60 µW

The incident optical power required is 3.60 µW

Example 3
GaAs has a band-gap energy of 1.43 eV at 300 K. Determine the wavelength abovewhich an
intrinsic photo-detector fabricated from this material will cease to operate.
Solution: The long wavelength cutoff:

/8 ?.?@? × >.XYZ × @.SST × >.V

λc =W`= >.<Q × >.?.@ ×>.XP[

= 0.867µm.

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The GaAs photo-detector will cease to operate above 0.867µm.

Example 4

The phototransistor of has a collector current of 15 mA when theincident optical power at a

wavelength of 1.26 µm is 125 µW. Estimate:
(a) The optical gain of the device under the above operating conditions;
(b) The common emitter current gain if the quantum efficiency of the base–collector
photodiode at a wavelength of 1.26 µm is 40%.
Solution: (a)The optical gain is given by:

/9 ]8 /8 ]8
Go = ( ab
= λ( ab

?.?@? × >.XYZ × @.SST × >.V × >U ×>.XY

=
>.@? × >.?.@ ×>.XP[ ×>@U×>.Xc

=118.1

(b) The common emitter current gain is:

db >>T.>
hFE = \ = ..< = 295.3

In this example a common emitter current gain of 295 gives an optical gain of118. It is
therefore possible that this type of device will become an alternative to theAPD for optical
detection at wavelengths above 1.1 µm

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